Two months before the Chandigarh municipal corporation (MC) goes to the polls, there is no end to setbacks for the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) which suffered another major blow on Tuesday as its councillor Ram Chander Yadav joined the Congress along with his supporters.
With this defection, the grand old party, which had already become the second largest party in the 36-member House last month, now has 11 members, i.e 10 councillors and an MP who is ex officio member of the House. The AAP, which had 14 councillors after the 2021 municipal elections, is now reduced to just seven members – the smallest in the House. The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has the highest, 18, councillors in the House.
6 defections in last 8 months
Yadav and his supporters were formally welcomed into the party fold by Chandigarh Pradesh Congress Committee president HS Lucky. He is the sixth councillor to defect from AAP in the eight months since December 2025.
In the 2021 MC polls, Yadav was elected from Ward 15 with 6,431 votes. Having been associated with the AAP for the last 12 years, Yadav said the party no longer has any standing in Chandigarh. “The AAP is the most uninspiring party. When the time was right to save the city from the BJP, they broke the alliance with the Congress. It is a struggle getting any work done as the party leaders are not disciplined,” he said.
Yadav also added that the AAP took no action against its councillors who indulged in cross-voting during the 2025 mayoral polls. “The now dismantled Congress-AAP alliance was in majority at that time in the House and even then, we could not form a mayor because of cross-voting which clearly gave BJP the edge. Even then the party took no action.” he said, adding that AAP only shields thieves and corrupt people.
{{/usCountry}}Yadav also added that the AAP took no action against its councillors who indulged in cross-voting during the 2025 mayoral polls. “The now dismantled Congress-AAP alliance was in majority at that time in the House and even then, we could not form a mayor because of cross-voting which clearly gave BJP the edge. Even then the party took no action.” he said, adding that AAP only shields thieves and corrupt people.
{{/usCountry}}The AAP, meanwhile, maintained that Yadav was expelled for anti-party activities.
Lucky said that the growing public support for Congress is a result of Member of Parliament (MP) Manish Tewari consistently raising public issues in Parliament and Congress councillors assertively representing the concerns of residents in the MC. A Punjabi movie actress Aditi Arya also joined the party on the occasion.
From 14 councillors to 7: AAP’s steady decline since 2021
During the MC elections in 2021, the AAP got its first-ever majority in the city, winning 14 seats in the 35-member MC House. It was closely followed by the BJP with 12 seats and Congress with eight. The Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) secured one ward, though its councillor Hardeep Singh later joined the AAP. Despite AAP’s strength in the House, it was the BJP that won the mayoral elections in 2022, 2023, 2025 and 2026. In January 2024, after a vote-tampering fiasco, the Supreme Court had declared the AAP candidate the winner – the only time that AAP was able to secure the mayor’s post in the last four years.
Since 2021, AAP strength has dwindled from 14 to seven. In 2023, its councillor Taruna Mehta joined the Congress. In December 2025, two other councillors, Poonam and Suman Sharma, joined the saffron party just before the mayoral polls. In February this year, AAP councillor Prem Lata defected to the Congress. Exactly a month after this, in March, AAP councillor Damanpreet Singh also joined the Congress. Last month. AAP councillor Munawar defected to the Congress.
Not only with AAP, defections by BJP and Congress councillors have changed the Mathematics of the House on several occasions in these five years. Councilors Gurbax Rawat and Harpreet Kaur Babla, who had won their seats on Congress tickets in 2021 later joined the BJP. AAP councillor Lakhbir Singh Billu also joined the BJP.
Councillor Gurcharanjit Singh Kala’s political career has been a highly discussed one in municipal politics. He moved from the Congress party to the BJP, then to the AAP, and then switched back to the BJP, his current party.